Wichita eagle., 1887-04-20

Beans, Dried Fruit and Chickens-OniOns
Forgotten-What tho Captain Said-In
Dead Calm-A Serious .Situation-A
Close Call.
The barkentine Maple Leaf in 1872 was
engaged in trade between New York and
Brazil Her cargoes south were miscel-
laneous assortment of domestic goods, and
on the hOmeward trip she usually carried
hides and horns. l was on my second
trip as supercargo and, with Yankees
natural turn for speculation, saw an OPP
portunity to ''turn penny" Space on
shipboard, like space in widely clrcu-
lated newspaper, is very valuable. AS
supercargo / was also steward and cook,
and the galley, with fits lockers, was my
personal d, main. AS steward it as my
duty to victual the ship for voyage
which might last four or even five months,
but which was usually performed in from
forty to seventy days. When fully
victualed for the longest possible voyage,
as the rules required, there was hardly
room in the galley or storeroom Ito stick
pin"
In Pernambuco had seen clear horns
sold at ten cents each and cloudy ones for
seven and even less. / knew also that
their value in New York at that time was
from thirt.- to twenty-five cents. | pos
SesSed four doubloonS, about 500, and
quietly invested the sum in HONS. | had
them conveyed on board surreptitiously as
''provisions' and stored in the darkest
portion Of the storerOom Then | victualed
the vessel with beans, rice dried fruit
such articles as were not calculated TO de-
cay in an equatorial climate and which
possessed the desirable property Of ''swell-
ing" during culinary preparation. AS
tempting attraction, and to encourage the
idea that / was a good provider, " two
coopS of eighty chickens cackled and
squawked on the quarter deck, and | had
no trouble in persuading the sailors to
take charge of a large bag Of chicken feed
for the sustenance of the fowls until they
should be needed from time to time for
pot pies. Thus proviSioned with the Gus
tomary amount of salt meats and flour,
we cleared from Pernambuco for New
York
THE DENOUEMENT.
TOlerably fair sailing weather lasted
until we were off the Isle of Pines, and
then for eleven days the barkentine did
not move an inch. The eighty chickens,
like the last rose of summer, were faded
and gone Then | began to exercise all
the culinary art ! possessed in making the
''staples" palatable. One day, however,
the captain remarked that he had seen no
vans. Vans were bulky vegetable, and
| had given up their space to the horns.
| said | could find only Indifferent yams
in the Pernambuco market, and was sure
they would spoil in crossing the equator
But onions" said the captain; you
have onions.''
Unfortunately / had forgotten onions.
LET me see what you have" said he,
leading the way down into the galley. L
was aware that the denouement was COM
ing, and SO lighted a small lamp and led
the way straight to the horns Hitherto,
Capt. Ellsworth had always professed
friendship for me; but when he saw the
nature of my provisions-the vessel thirty
or forty days from port and in a dead
calm-he exhibited symptoms of decided
impatience.
.'If were to tell the crew of what /
have SEEM" said he, they would throw
you overheard"
Time hangs heavily on ones hands
when becamed at sea, even under the
most favorable circumstances; but to Il
steward who is likely to starve his mess
mates through his own folly it is simply
iptoierablc. Had | not awakened on the
following morning to find the vessel bowl
ing along before a clipping breeze | think
might have saved the crew the trouble of
feeding me to the sharks.
On the day that we reached New York,
and while the barkentine was passing
through Hell Gate, the captain came for
ward to where ] was leaning over the raj
and said in a low and confidential tone:
Steward, how much longer could you
have served full rations?"
It'll dinner time tomorrow" / an
swered.-Detroit Free Press.